Playing with Fire

‘‘I don’t think that would be wise at all,’’ Gabriel answered with an enigmatic smile, pouring out a glass of a local red wine.

I accepted it, my gaze flickering from him, to Aisling, to the silent but watchful Drake, and back again. Aisling chatted for a few minutes about the pleasant evening and the area we were in. I took a couple of sips of my wine, making noncommittal replies whenever it seemed called for.

‘‘Have we met before?’’ Aisling suddenly asked, a smile on her lips as she added, ‘‘I’m sorry, that came out terribly rude, didn’t it? It’s just that you look so familiar…’’

‘‘Louise Brooks,’’ I said, with a half smile of my own.

‘‘I beg your pardon?’’

‘‘I look like Louise Brooks. It’s the hair, mostly, I think,’’ I said, smoothing my hand over my short bob.

‘‘I like it,’’ Gabriel said to my astonishment. ‘‘Your hair is glossy and black, like the wing of a blackbird. You are small like a bird, too.’’

Momentarily dumbfounded by both the comments and the warm undertone almost imperceptible in his voice, I was silent for a few seconds before continuing. ‘‘Louise was a silent movie star. Cyrene fell in love with the flapper styles of the early 1920s and was a dead ringer for Louise. Thus, when Cyrene created me, I looked like Louise as well. Cy usually wears her hair differently than me, but a couple of months ago she went to a costume party and decided to re-create her flapper look.’’

‘‘She… created you?’’ Aisling asked, looking astounded.

‘‘Yes. Doppelgangers are created when their twin gives up a part of themselves. In Cyrene ’s case, she sacrificed her common sense in order to create me.’’ My lips tightened. I didn’t mind talking about doppelgangers in general, but I was not going to go into any more details about my creation, or subsequent bondage to Magoth.

‘‘That’s very interesting,’’ she said. Jim the demon wandered in from the yard, taking up a spot at her feet.

‘‘Are you finished?’’ Drake asked her.

My stomach tightened uncomfortably at the hard look he turned on me.

‘‘Yes, but you could have made more of an effort to participate in a little polite conversation,’’ she told him, pinching his thigh. ‘‘Please forgive him, May. Dragons normally have the most exquisite ma

I avoided looking at István. I wasn’t feeling guilty about biting him-he had done far, far worse to Cyrene-but that was clearly not going to be a welcome subject of discussion.

‘‘I’m sure you’re all tired, so why don’t I save everyone from dancing around the issue,’’ I said, wincing at the abruptness of my tone. My eyes went over to where Gabriel had resumed his position. He seemed relaxed enough, but there was a sense of tension surrounding him that seemed oddly out of place, despite the events of the evening. ‘‘You want me to do something for you. Why don’t you just tell me what it is?’’

The humor that seemed so comfortable in Gabriel’s eyes faded, the gray in them dulling. He glanced toward Drake. ‘‘There is a… situation.’’

Drake’s eyes narrowed on me.

Jim pursed its lips.

‘‘What sort of a situation?’’ I asked, not really wanting to know.

Cicadas chirped in the silence that followed.

Aisling looked from one dragon to the other, sighing and heaving herself over a bit on the couch so she could lean toward me. ‘‘Honestly, dragons! Here’s the deal, May-Drake is the wyvern of the green dragons.’’

I nodded.

‘‘His brother was the wyvern-in-training of the black dragons.’’

‘‘His brother? I didn’t think families could be split like that,’’ I said slowly.

‘‘It’s a long story, but basically, Drake was claimed by his grandmother’s green dragon family, while Kostya, his brother, was in line to take over as wyvern of the black dragons. Only there was a problem with Baltic, the wyvern at the time. You see, the silver dragons were once part of the black dragon family, but they left to form their own sept.’’

‘‘After several hundred years of abuse by Baltic,’’ Gabriel said, his eyes still dull.

‘‘Baltic didn’t want them to be off on their own, and he basically destroyed his own sept trying to get the silver dragons back.’’

‘‘I see.’’ I wondered what all this had to do with me.

‘‘The few existing black dragons who survived-how many, sweetie?’’ she interrupted herself to ask Drake.

‘‘Less than ten,’’ he answered, his hand stroking gently on her back.

‘‘The few existing black dragons who survived went into hiding, Drake’s brother Kostya included. Because he’d sworn to uphold Baltic’s plan to bring the silver dragons back into the fold, you see.’’

I didn’t see, but I wasn’t about to slow down the information dump.

‘‘So, long story short-’’

‘‘There isn’t anything short about your stories,’’ Jim muttered.

‘‘Long story short,’’ Aisling repeated in a louder voice, ‘‘Baltic was killed by Kostya, but it was too late-the damage had been done and the sept was destroyed. Kostya went to ground. Later he was kidnapped and held prisoner, although no one seems to know by whom. Drake found him and we rescued him a couple of months ago.’’

Unbidden, my gaze went to Gabriel. He took a long pull on his drink, then strolled across the room, setting his glass down on the table next to me. His face was shuttered and absolutely expressionless as he looked down on me.

‘‘I take it that this Kostya is making your life hell?’’ I asked him, dread building within me. I began to see what it was he wanted me for.

‘‘That would be an understatement,’’ he said, turning to look out into the darkness.

I set down my own glass carefully lest I end up snapping the thin stem. ‘‘I think I should tell you all that I am not a hit man. I will not kill anyone, let alone a dragon.’’

‘‘Oh, we don’t want you to kill Kostya! He’s Drake’s brother, no matter how a

‘‘What phylactery?’’ I asked, my heart sinking. Why was it that people saw me only for my talent, and never for who I truly was?

‘‘Kostya took a phylactery from me. He intends on using it against the silver dragons in an attempt to a

‘‘I see,’’ I said again.

‘‘You’re Mei Ling, the cat burglar everyone is talking about,’’ Aisling said, her face worried. ‘‘You can get the phylactery back for us, can’t you?’’

I lifted my hand in a vague gesture, unsure of what I wanted to say. With the intention of stalling for a few seconds, I snatched up my glass instead, but the moment the wine hit my tongue, I realized I’d taken Gabriel’s glass instead. It was as if I was drinking liquid hellfire.

‘‘Agathos daimon!’’ I yelped, dropping the glass and jumping to my feet as flames burst out around my feet.

‘‘Not me,’’ Aisling said when Drake looked at her. ‘‘That fire isn’t mine.’’

Gabriel spun around, his eyes glowing with a sudden light as he watched me stamp out the flames that licked my toes.

‘‘Holy cow,’’ Aisling said, watching me with openmouthed amazement. ‘‘Did she just drink what I think she did?’’

Gabriel picked the glass up off the floor, ru

‘‘Oh, man, two in one year?’’ Jim asked, an odd expression on its face. ‘‘What’re the odds?’’

‘‘I’m sorry about the rug,’’ I told Aisling, grabbing a couple of napkins to try to soak up the spilled wine. ‘‘I must have grabbed the wrong glass. That’s a heck of a drink. What is it?’’

I could still taste the heady beverage on my lips, a spicy mix that had a hint of cloves and ci

‘‘It’s called dragon’s blood,’’ Gabriel answered, his eyes glittering brightly as he took a step nearer to me. ‘‘Would you like more?’’